It's my shadow, the only friend that I have
by finnick-sugarcube
Summary: Katniss and Peeta married and had two childs - Primrose and Finn - who are living their own life. Suddenly Gale Hawthorne moves to district 12 again. Will Katniss and Peeta's love be strong enough to stop Katniss' and Gale's love?
1. Chapter 1

27 minutes. 27 minutes I've been talking to the same guy I just met, but it feels like I've known him for years. I smile when I look into his blue eyes. I'm not good at making friends, I don't even know how to socialize without being mean to people. I'm so deep into my thoughts that I don't hear Chad speaking: 'Prim?'. I wake up and shake my head, asking him what's wrong.  
He doesn't gives the answer immediately. He gets his hand trough his hair. 'I-' he stutters. 'I asked you if you'd like to come over for dinner at my house.' he says while looking at the ground, like he was affraid to ask it. Why would he be? You can't fall in love in 27 minutes, that's not even possible.  
I shake my head. 'No...' I say, trying to sound angry. I see him nodding dissapointed. 'I don't think I'd like to,' I say. 'I'd love to.' His face clears up. And then we both laugh. It's been a while since I last laughed. Mom and dad has been fighting over something these days. Yesterday dad slept on the couch, and deep in the night I heard mom cry.  
Chad smiles and grabs my hand. What does that means? Is he falling for me? That's not possible. People dislike me, some people just talk to me because my parents saved everybody from the Capitol. They don't really like me, they just like the fact that I'm an Mellark child. But instead of pulling back my hand I simply smile. He smiles too. Please don't think that I'm falling for you, just please... I think before we walk away. I pull my hand back to grab my cellphone. 'Sorry, need to text my brother so they know I'm away for a while.' I say while I think about what the type.  
We stop walking so I can type the message. It doesn't takes long, because it's not a long text. "Hey, will be home later. Diner at the Hawthornes. Love, Prim". I send it away and start to walk again. And a few seconds after I putted my cell phone in my pocket Chad grabs my hand again. And I feel my cheeks getting red. We don't talk during the walk. After five minutes we reach his house. The house isn't big, but isn't small too. The walls are white on the outside and it has a red roof. At the edge of the house I see a few packing boxes piled up. He and his family just moved from District 2 to district 12.  
After the Capitol has fallen the districts decided to live in harmony, never have war again. They build roads between the districts so you could travel against them. We still produce things, but different now. District 13 built the roads and are still taking care of them. District 11 is taking care of the food. And district 12 has it's own job.  
Chad opens the door. 'I'm home' he yells. A man and woman walk down the stairs. When the woman sees me she smiles. 'Is that your girlfriend?' she asks Chad. Chad looks shocked. 'No, mom! She's just a friend... She can stay for diner, right?' he says. The woman nods and shakes my hand. 'I'm Mrs. Hawthorne. But you can just call me Madge, okay?' she says. She has blond hair, that's tied up. She's wearing a white dress with a pink flower pattern on it. The man smiles at me. 'I'm Gale.' he says while giving me a little nod. He looks like he's waiting for something, and I look back, not knowing what to do. '...And you are?' he asks. Well, that was embarrassing. 'I'm sorry.' I say. He laughs. 'Well, hello Sorry'. And then I laugh too. I don't hope they find out I'm faking that laugh. '...I'm Primrose Rue Everdeen.' I say. Madge and Gale look at each other. 'could this be?' Madge asks. Gale shrugs, and asks me if I'm related to Katniss Everdeen. How do they even know my mother? I nod. 'Yes, she's my mom.' I say. And suddenly I realize who I'm talking to. Gale Hawthorne. The best friend of my mother when she was my age is back to town. My stomach hurts when I think about the fact that my parents have been fighting over him a lot. I hate him for that, even if he couldn't help it. "Katniss.. I thought we had finally finished this chapter..." I can still hear my dad yelling it at her. And now I finally understand whre they were fighting over.  
Gale nods slowly, 'how is she doing?'. We walk farther in the hall. I open my mouth to tell him that she's fine but before the sound escapes he already asked if he could come over someday. My instinct is telling me to say "no" but instead I slowly nod and smile. I walk to Chad again, not wanting him to ask more questions. I rub over my arms to make the goosebumps go away. 'Cold?' Chad asks me. But I shake my head. It'd be stupid to tell him that it's because of his dad. He's still his dad. Chad smiles at me, and I feel my cheeks get warm. I look at Madge, who's serving the food.  
We eat, talk and laugh. And after an hour we're done. I thank Madge and Gale for the diner and open the door. 'Hold it, Primrose!' Chad says while he grabs his jacket. 'I'm taking you home, okay?' he asks. I smile and nod. He grabs my hand and my stomach hurts again. Why is he doing this? Together we walk home, and when I open the door my dad hugs me so tight that it hurts. 'Dad? What's wrong?' I ask. He shakes his head. 'Where were you? We've been worried, Prim!' he says mad. I shrug. 'I texted Finn!' I say while pointing at my brother. He smiles. 'I forgot to tell them?' he says while he grabs his glass of beer. 'Sorry, Prim. Forgot to tell them that you have a boyfriend who's the son of Gale Hawthorne.' he says while taking a sip of his beer. I feel my head turning red again. 'He's not my boyfriend...' I say. My mom walks looks at us. 'G-Gale?' she stutters. Chad nods. '...My father.' he says while looking at the ground. My father nods. 'You look like him.' he sputters. Chad looks guilty at Peeta, like he's apologizing. Did his parents told him about his life when he was a teenager?  
Chad gives me a little nod. 'Bye, Prim.' he says before he walks away. When I close the door I look at my father. 'What the hell was that? I heard the way you said it, dad!' I yell at him. I calm down. 'Just don't judge him, okay?' I ask. And before my dad can answer my question I'm already upstairs. I don't want to see what he thought about it.

1:28 at night, and they're still fighting. I walk downstairs, and make sure they can't see me, but I can listen. 'Katniss, did you know what was even worse than being tortured by the Capitol? No? Thinking about the fact I'd never see you again. Time was like a bomb, one fire and your time was over. That thought tortured me my whole life, Katniss! You don't even give a single fuck about me, do you?' Peeta yells at her. Katniss gets up from the couch. 'Not if you act like this!' she yells back. Peeta sighs. 'Why do you have to be such a bitch about it, Katniss? They were right. It was áll for the games. You should have married Gale, and I should have stayed alone forever. Die alone. Live an unhappy life, because that's the only thing I deserve. To be unhappy.' Peeta says. I hear a door slam and my mom bursts out in tears. I slowly walk upstairs again, not making any noise. I fall down on my bed, and then the tears start rolling over my face too. Dad left us, maybe for forever.


	2. Chapter 2

I feel bad when I sit at the table next morning. Mom is pretending nothing happened that night, without knowing I was listening to them. Finn asked where dad was and she didn't even answered. When she walked away to get us some bread, Finn asked me what was going on. But I only shaked my head, telling him not to ask mom. He just shrugged but didn't asked any farther. I swallow the last part of my bread. Then I grab my bag and walk away without saying anything. I open the door and see dad.

'Dad...' I say shocked. He smiles. 'Hi.' he only says before he walks trough the door. He searches around. 'Katniss, I asked you if you could -' 'I did' Katniss says, while pointing at some boxes. 'I packed all of your stuff in there.' she says before she grabs her bag to head to her work. 'What?' Finn asks. 'Dad isn't gonna leave!' he protests. Dad smiles and gives him a kiss on his head. 'Your mom and I need some time to think, Finn.' he says before walking away with the boxes. Finn sighs. 'God damn it!' he screams before grabbing his bag and walking away, leaving me behind as the last one. I sigh and start walking towards my school. Another day of hell...

A hand grips my mouth from behind. I scream but nothing comes out. Then I feel two hands lifting up my body. I scream again, but again; no sound. 'Missed me?' I hear a voice saying. I look at the face of the person. '...Rye...' I say. I smile. 'I missed you...' I say, while thinking at the fact that I don't have real friends here. He puts me back on the ground. We used to be friends four years ago, but he moved out of the district. I never thought I'd see him again. I hug him tight. 'I missed you too, Rose.' he whispers in my ear. Rose. That's how he calls me. If someone screamed the name "rose" instead of "prim" I knew it was him.

He looks at the school. 'I gotta go there. you?' he asks. I nod. 'Me too. So you're stuck with me this year.' I tease. He smiles and starts walking. 'You've grown a few inches, Rose...' he says while looking at me. I nod. 'Yes. you too.' I say. I look at him. His hair is light brown, and he has dark brown eyes. He has grown a lot since I last saw him. And I don't want to admit it since we're just friends, but he's hot. Girls will fall over him. And suddenly the selfish thought to lose him to other people haunts me. But he has to have other friends. I can't take that away from him.

4 more minutes before it's time to go home. Our teacher gives the homework and I write it down. I'm sitting next to Rye. He asked me if he could sit next to me, I said no. But when he gave me the puppy eyes, I had to let him. He asks me if we could make homework together. I want to be alone, so I refuse. He nods.

'Why?' he asks me, giving me the puppy eyes again. I shrug. 'I already promised someone else, Maybe tomorrow?' I suggest. He nods and smiles. The schoolbell rings and I get up. He grabs my wrist. 'Rose? With who are you going to make homework?' he doesn't let's go of me. 'Are you... dating someone?' Rye asks.

I shake my head. 'No, Rye...' I say while smiling. And before he can answers I already walked away. When I reach the outside of the school building I see Chad. I walk towards him. 'Hey, Chad.' I say. He looks over his shoulder to me. 'Oh, hey Prim!' he says. 'I want you to meet someone. This is Mary' he says while pointing at a girl with blond hair. 'Hey...' I say emotionless. She nods in greeting. Then I look back at Chad again. 'You want to come over to make homework at my house?' I ask Chad. He nods. 'Homework? Yeah sure, why not?' he says, and together we walk home.

'Made any friends?' I ask him. He nods. 'You?' I shake my head. It feels awkward again. He stops his passes. 'So who were you talking to?' Chad asks. 'That... boy.' he says. Is he jealous of him? I'm searching for a little jealousy on his face but he's emotionless.

'That boy is Rye. Don't worry about him. He's an old childhood friend of me.' I say and I start walking again. He follows me, and we don't say a word before we reach my house. I grab in my pocket for a key. 'Damn it!' I say while walking towards the window. And another time I say it: 'damn it.'

'How could she?!' I almost start screaming while giving the inside of my house one more look. Chad presses his finger against my lip. 'Don't make any sounds, okay?' he whispers. I nod, still in shock. 'Chad… Does this changes everything between our family?' I ask him. When he opens his mouth to say something I hear a loud moan coming from inside. I look trough the window again. 'They're both pantless now…' I notice.

'Who?' I hear a deep voice saying behind me. Dad.

'D-dont go in there, dad!' I stutter. He raises one eyebrow. 'Why?' he ask before he opens the door. I see his eyes getting bigger and rage crowling up inside him. 'We need to talk…' he says before slamming the door and walking away again. I push the door open and see Gale putting on his pants. I sigh, shake my head and run upstairs. And when I fall onto my bed I start crying.

The tears come naturally and before I even know it my pillow is wet of the tears. I hear Chad yelling at his dad and try to focus on his words, but somehow I can't focus. So I just get back in bed. I hear someone walk upstairs. It's not my mom, because her footsteps are lighter. When Chad opens the door he sighs. 'How could they?' he asks before he closes the door.

'What did you just yelled at them?' I ask while he sits at the edge of my bed.

'I told them to never do this again, because one move already hurted five people. Imagine what more of those moves can do.' He says. I nod and suddenly I open my arms. He smiles and hugs me tight.

'It's gonna be alright, Prim…' Chad says. 'I know…' I say.


End file.
